Blackpool duo’s music meets its new Waterloo

Listen carefully to Waterloo Road tonight (BBC1, 8pm) and you should be able to hear music by local duo Troubadour

The release last year of their debut studio album Carnival Town, has been making waves at the BBC.

Tracks from the album have now been picked up by the BBC on two separate occasions.

The BBC Introducing team were the first to spot the songwriting talents of Michael Shanagher and Andrew Bache, leading to their appearance playing a live set on BBC Radio.

The second occasion was when the BBC decided to use the track, Shelter in Waterloo Road.

Andy said: “They’ve taken the instrumental parts from Shelter to provide the musical accompaniment in the final scene, an emotional climax to the episode.

“We reckon it will be the one that’s aired tonight. The programme is watched by five million viewers, so it feels like a real achievement for us - our little band from Blackpool, being heard by so many people.”

Troubadour recorded Carnival Town at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, where Elbow recorded their Mercury Prize winning album, The Seldom Seen Kid.

Mike said: “We’re really proud of the album. Gaz Hadfield, the sound engineer at Blueprint, did a great job of capturing the acoustic tones of our instruments.

“The recording sounds like we’re in the room with you.

“And even down to the artwork, we produced the whole thing ourselves.

“We were playing at the festival on Blackpool North Pier last May, when we saw that the horses from the Carousel had been taken down for maintenance, and were all laying on their sides.

“Andy took a picture of the scene with his phone and it was such a striking image that it became the cover of our cd. “The title of the album is a tribute to our resort home town as well.”

Andy added: “The album has received some great reviews locally, but there will be a review in this month’s R2-Rock & Reel magazine and another in next month’s Acoustic magazine.

“These are the album’s first two reviews in national publications. We haven’t read them yet, so we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed!”

Troubadour have played shows with the BAFTA winning Emily Barker, and the legendary folk guitarist Steve Tilston already this year, and are now looking forward to shows coming up with Mark Chadwick of The Levellers, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls of the Wonderstuff, and more.

You can keep up to date with Troubadour’s upcoming shows on their website at www.wearetroubadour.co.uk